DSE

With some rigs (Vector, Talon etc.) the way the riser covers are connected / integrated with the left and right flap of the main container results in a 'pronounced seam' right where your toggles are when you pack them facing out. The surface of the reserve container at that same spot is smooth. It has happened that toggles got caught under that seam and fired on opening. If they are not against that seam, they can't get caught... This point makes sense. On the other hand, on my Eclipse, the reserve container "bulges" quite a bit, and I can easily see the toggles getting temporarily hanged up on the underside of the bulge. I've never had the brake *lines* fire, but have had a toggle come out of its keeper.

I'm well aware of Twixtor; it's one of the best resampling algorithms out there. I'd guess most folks don't have the tool, due to the cost and host requirements? The opening shot is 10% of original speed, and then sped to 50% of the original. I'd prefer that vid not be on YouTube, but don't have a problem with it being hosted on a private site as it currently is.

Bottom track should remain full opacity.

Getting back into the USA last week from Asia was a seriously big hassle at LAX. Flew SIA from Chiangi to LAX, zero hassles in Malaysia or Singapore (skydiving and other aerial sports are illegal in Singapore) but on arrival at LAX, customs opened the hard case containing rig, etc, and waved it thru. TSA at LAX international terminal wanted me to pop the rig open, and wanted to see inside the reserve area. I asked for a supervisor, who then brought over another TSA person, who then found someone in their organization who was a skydiver, who then explained to them what the reserve seal was for, and that they'd be costing me money if they popped the seal. The guy asked if I was a rigger, and I explained I wasn't. Thank god he didn't tell them what the Cypres was for or that it contained an explosive charge. It was good that the TSA supervisor knew to call someone who knew a skydiver. It *might* have been easier if I'd been carrying my rig onboard, frankly. Ultimately, I only had to pull the closing pin to show the Dbag and lines, but the whole fiasco took over an hour, which made me nearly miss my flight home from LAX, and caused my bag to miss the flight home. So much for Homeland security mandates that "your bags must be on the flight with you." Calm and nice is critical, and for me, this is like soothing a cat with a firecracker taped to his tail. I'm not the calm sort when I'm trying to get from terminal 3 to terminal 8. But, if these guys sense anything but smooth, calm, and collected and unworried, be prepared for difficulty. Oh, and don't wear a gel bra. :-) I felt very badly for a woman in front of me, TSA at LAX are less than diplomatic.

jumped it, yes. No, it's not susceptible, because it's static memory like a giant flash card. If you haven't bought one yet, you might wanna read Panny's recent retreat from DVCProHD. If you do have one, then it won't matter.

Very sweet, we had one for a Sports Xtreme show, back in July and it worked out very nicely. We had Chris' prototype/personal helmet. Didn't take shots of me wearing it, just shots of it in a showcase. It's outfitted with a HyPeye and Goldmember, but it's got a recess on the front left cheek for a CamEye type switch. I uploaded a couple pix to this page for those interested. The blue has a flame on one side, somewhat hard to see in this pic. On my head, it wasn't so attractive under my eyes because I have fat cheeks, so it pushes my cheek fat up towards my eyes. I looked like the kid in the "chubby" jokes. But it did stay in place very, very well. This one is set up for top vs side mount, but of course it goes side mount very nicely. I never jumped it with the side mount attached. One feature I think some will either love or hate is the small "brow" over the eyes. Definitely helps keep the head up, but it also acts like an air "port" that you'll hear a low rumbling from, or at least I did. It makes placing the HyPeye or other cam indicator very easy to place, because it's "over" the eye rather than requiring the ringsight. With a ringsight mounted, the brow and the ringsight create a fairly smooth space that a riser isn't going to get under very easily. The helmet is very comfortable, Routing cable is very simple with the full liner as well. I couldn't drill this one as it was a prototype, but it wasn't necessary. I put 10-12 jumps on it before I had to return it to Bonehead. Although it doesn't look like it, I was able to fit a pair of TimeOut audibles in the ears without feeling them pressuring my ears like they do in my older Optik or Mindwarp. HTH

I don't have a manual for my Eclipse/Stunt, and the Infinity manual doesn't say which is preferable. Just says "Stow the risers under the riser cover flaps, laying them side by side. Place bag in container as shown, etc. It appears that historically, facing inward was necessary, and today it's not critical? I don't think I buy the argument that your toggles will snag on the riser covers and cause a brake-fire, but maybe that makes sense to someone? On both my Eclipse and Infinity, once you're past the 3 ring, everything is completely discreet (covered).

No I don't. Just wanted to make sure I understood the reason not to do it. Thanks. Ken, my response was more directed towards Chris-Ottowa who indicated he's likely to "give it a try anyway..." Scary stuff, IMO

He's a master rigger. I've usually faced the toggles out on my Eclipse, but I have a smaller Infinity that I face them inwards. Haven't noticed any difference, and in asking another rigger yesterday, the response was "it doesn't matter anymore, we used to always face them inwards. If it's working for you, stick with it." On my smaller rig, the toggles fall inward naturally, but on my larger rig, they fall outward naturally, perhaps due to a 1" riser vs the 2?" Or maybe from the previous owner. Dunno. Either way, both seem comfortable, and both open correctly so far. Thanks for the input guys!

I agree. Even at a couple hundred, the only things I feel qualified to coach are: 1. Hit the Coke machine late in the day because sodas are colder than in the morning. 2. Be sure your chin strap is correctly fastened so your helmet doesn't freefly during freefall. 3. Blow your nose before getting on the load; snark at high speeds creates some really interesting designs on your goggles, but it's still kinda disgusting. Take photos, Mapplethorpe fans might be interested.

I'm referring to placing toggles/risers in relation to putting the Dbag in the tray near the end of packing, just prior to closure of the riser covers. In other words, the position they'll be facing. In other words, their final packed position. Yes, he gave me a small "dumbass, don't you know they'll hang up on the container?" lecture, but frankly, that didn't make sense, or I'm just too dense to have understood it. If there is a reason that the toggles should face to the inside or outside of the container once the rig is packed, I'm all ears. In theory, it doesn't seem to matter. In practice, perhaps it does? I honestly never noticed how they were packed when I was a student, and during my packing instruction no one specified either direction. Just "Place the risers/toggles into the rig, being sure lines are routed correctly in the tray prior to placing the Dbag and closing the rig" kind of direction. Have I been lucky so far? Or is my chain being yanked?

Lordy, I wish I had an easy-to-get photo of a guy that was hit with line burn in a marginally similar situation. He was out of the air for nearly 2 months because of the rash, cuts, burns, blisters, and exceptionally sore muscles that came along with being hit hard with lines. He was only *hit* with the microlines. I don't want to imagine what might have happened had his hand become entangled too. Do you think you could clear a mal that might tie up one hand? And then cut away with that hand potentially entangled?

I've been packing with my toggles facing in one direction for nearly 200 jumps. The other day one of the much more experienced was walking by, saw me packing the toggles, and practically tore my head off with a "No! F$#@! no! Who taught you that sh**? They MUST be faced XXX way." First, I thought it didn't really matter so long as both toggles are directed identically. Second, if it *does* mattter, should they be placed facing inside or outside the rig?

Just as an aside, "DV" and "uncompressed" don't go in the same sentence. DV by its very nature is compressed. Windows Media Video/WMV is the most common codec, Quicktime is the most dual-platform friendly, and REAL...man...they had a good thing going til they started installing a lot of weirdness. It's actually superior overall as a codec, but the player is so viral-like. If you want to export to Windows Media, you'll get the *best* conversion by exporting straight from the Premiere timeline as a 4:2:2 file and then dropping that in the free Windows Media Encoder, but that takes a lot of time and disk space. So, export as WMV from the Premiere timeline so that you avoid multiple compressions/recompression.

Use the "Reverse Field Dominance" option. Which version of PP are you using? You might need to export the clip with upper field dominant, and reimport as a separate clip.

Striping is dead if you're using DV, because of the capture tools. But...depacking tape is STILL a good idea, fast forwarding and rewinding tape. DV generates new TC (on low cost cams) each time you turn on/off camcorder if it doesn't see the old TC that you were previously using. In other words, if you stop the tape during record, rewind a bit, preview it, and play back past the end of the existing TC, then it will start new TC if you turn off the camcorder between shooting. Striping prevented that, except that the new TC is laid over the striped TC, and it *can* confuse your NLE system.

Before buying Premiere or any other NLE, you really ought to try demos of them all. For example, AvidFree might be all you need, although some feel it's a little buggy. Canopus Edius is a great tool, as are *most* of the others. Pinnacle (now Avid) has taken a serious nose-dive of late. Sony Vegas Movie Studio has taken roughly 40% of the entry-level market for a reason; it's solid and exceptionally easy to learn. I'm very biased tho, because I use it and Avid every day. Premiere is used in our house only for projects that clients will be finishing in Premiere, but the Studio Bundle is a great value if you'll be using Pshop and AfterEffects. Regardless, all the US-owned NLEs are very good, and all but Movie Studio have approximately the same learning curve, so it becomes a question of personal preference. All offer essentially the same quality of output for DV-based productions. They are all different when it comes to DVD quality of output, and this is the one place Premiere really suffers unless you buy the upgraded MainConcept encoder.

me too. I shoulda listened to some of the folks here on DZ.com and not some of the other folks at the local DZ. But...once I realized my mistake and worked on belly/RW flying more, I'm feeling like a return to working on my freefly skills is coming soon.

For the same reason that some skydivers feel the need to push their reasons for skydiving down other people's throats. Look, any time you have passionate people about anything, you should expect equally passionate people on the other side of the discussion. Look at what's happened with religion in the past decade. America is more divided than ever before due to one side of the discussion or the other. I've turned to druidism as a result.

To zoom, set your timeline to view 1 frame depth. Yes, both tracks must be set to same speed. However, you can get some interesting effects if you have them set to differing speeds.

Ummm... On the ground; one for all. Once the aircraft leaves the ground; All for one. this should have been drilled into you early on in your five skydives. On the ground, we're all buddies/family. In the air and until you're back in the hangar/loft, everyone is trying to kill you. If you're talking about "pushing someone out of an airplane" as a prank or stunt or act of tort because they're unhappy with them, and they die, OF COURSE there could, and likely would be repurcussions. I don't believe it's a skydiving ethic that prevents skydivers from randomly and arbitrarily pushing people out of airplanes; it's common sense and human ethic that determines whether someone will or not act stupidly or unsafely. What prompted this question? Did you see an AFF instructor push someone out? That is part of the program...and varies in how instructors teach it.

or, maybe there is a relationship between her and someone else, and she cheated on him/her...and friends at the DZ knew it. It's not DZ politics from what you describe, but rather standard soap opera show scripting.

If the level of the music you are using is very hot, ie; at 0dBFS and you're combining it with audio that isn't hot, the cumulative value of the audio could easily be overdriving the final level/output. It's important to remember that digital audio is cumulative, and if you hit the 0dB point it's not like analog audio where there is some forgiveness. The audio truncates, and if loud enough, will appear as though it's distorted. I'd recommend turning the audio down as a starting point. Past that, without hearing the mix, I'd not have a means of offering a suggestion.

The design and code for a HyPeye like device is available on the net, so one doesn't have to spend time on that. I checked out what the parts would cost me and it was a 1/4 of what the CamEye II would cost me. So it is not that expensive and I might have made one if I had access to a PIC-burner, but it wouldn't have been as pretty as a CamEye nor HyPeye and the small saving would not have been worth it for me. I also stumbled over a new in box CamEye II for a good price...